Ricardo Araújo: Unearthing the World's Best-Kept Secrets

Rarely does one encounter a tale of a classical music prodigy who abandons a thriving career as a pianist and conductor to establish his own specialized travel company, Ariodante.

Ricardo Araújo, mentored by the renowned French composer, Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux, and the prominent Russian cellist and conductor, Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, travelled the world, gracing the grandest concert halls and opera houses with his musical prowess. However, one day, he found himself compelled to shift gears and chart a new course for himself.

Hailing from Bogota, Colombia, Araújo was born into a family with a deep appreciation for the arts. Both his maternal and paternal lineages harbored a strong affinity for creative expression. His father, a diplomat (who enjoys playing the guitar and singing), and his mother, an art history teacher (who once spearheaded an art academy for children), instilled within him a passion for the arts, which truly shaped his world view.

“I’ve always been surrounded by art and, most of all, creation,” the 44-year-old entrepreneur states, “For as far as I remember, music and the arts in general, has always been my reality, my only world.”

From Concert Halls to the Boardroom

Interestingly, Araújo’s foray into entrepreneurship began in 2013. During the time he was working on an EdTech project that used AI to teach music fundamentals. Traditional investors had difficulty understanding the project, and the idea of predictive learning through AI was not yet mainstream, hence the initiative was shelved.

However in 2016, during an exclusive collaboration with Airbnb called ‘Go to a concert with a conductor,’ whereby Araújo provided his personal insight about music to guests at classical music concerts, the entrepreneur met his first client – an enthusiastic couple from Boston.

“We had a great connection and after the concert we went for lunch. Because they were so nice and friendly (and passionate about music) I proposed to take them backstage to the Royal Opera House before they were to fly back home,” the entrepreneur reveals. “They absolutely loved it because I showed them the real life of the opera house and how everything backstage was a living beehive.That’s when I started getting calls from their friends. They all wanted the same experience, but even better. Little by little I ended up organising my first real experiences, and then went on to organizing trips and later, entire sabbaticals!”

Within a short span of time, Araújo realized that the experience of creating emotional and meaningful moments for people was incredibly rewarding. Thus, Ariodante - a travel company that curates thoroughly unique and bespoke trips - was organically born out of love, inspiration and a little bit of luck.

Crafting Enchanting Journeys

“Ariodante is an agency that creates travel ideas from scratch. As each idea is 100% unique and one-off, we need a different team and, in a way, a different structure to deliver each idea,” Araújo says.

 “I have a very small team and based on each project, I bring together the right talent. For Project A it might be three people and for Project B, 27. As you can imagine, one of the biggest challenges of each project is to find the right team. It’s like creating a spiderweb of people that can work together and deliver precisely what we need.”

Currently, Ariodante has a network of over 600 professionals in the field of travel that give them a gate-pass into 90+ countries. This, the entrepreneur proudly states, allows Ariodante to curate “insane things almost anywhere in the world.”

But what’s the company’s method to these ultra-exclusive trips for the very wealthy? How long does it take to put an experience together that Araújo’s clients would be awestruck by?

“The work actually begins way before we start a project. The first and most crucial part is to know the client and those who they’ll be traveling with. By ‘knowing the client’ I don’t mean the basic stuff. No. We need to know the individual’s passions, interests, lifestyle, past experiences, expectations etc., to get a ‘feel’of them,” he says. “One of the first things I do is to personally travel to meet with the client and spend some days in their space. That way we can sit for a chat (or several) in a relaxed way. For example, I go with them for lunch to a restaurant they love, or for a drink in a bar they like, to understand their world.”

To create a unique and personalized travel experience, the entrepreneur explains, it’s vital to have a conversation with the client about their passions, dreams, and wishes, without any limitations on what is possible. Next, rough ideas and tests are created which are then presented to the client for feedback and then thoroughly refined until the client is completely satisfied and excited with the itinerary.

“Every detail counts because even a tiny grain of sand can potentially set in motion events that will derail a component of the trip and the client will feel it. So we need to test, re-test and triple-test many things. Once everything is ready and planned, then the actual trip begins and there’s always someone from our team discretely traveling with the client. This person is in fact the actual conductor because in real time he is activating each part of the plan, executing everything, solving problems (hopefully before they occur) and, when needed, modifying or amending. The goal is to give the client total freedom and allow the client to 'pause' and really enjoy the trip without any worries. To achieve this, we need to constantly preempt the client's every need,” states Araújo.

“Our trips mean months of planning and countless people involved working full time. It’s hundreds of little pieces, many of which the client will never notice, so at the end of the day, the client gets a travel dream. It’s about making the impossible possible.”

Planning the Perfect Murder

Cautious not to reveal too many details when discussing one of Ariodante's upcoming and highly-anticipated projects, Araújo lets slip that this particular venture involves a thrilling murder mystery adventure that takes place on a yacht in the 1920s. The project has been in development for eight months and is still a work in progress.

The experience that the entrepreneur hopes to create for his clients is akin to actual time travel, as he intends to transport them back in time.

“I want them to feel like they’ve been dragged into an Agatha Christie novel,” he says excitedly. “That sense of total immersion is a huge challenge because I need people to really switch their brain so the illusion must be perfect! We’re even creating each passenger’s entire 1920s wardrobe (including original pieces). The cruise will be a gastronomic feast with three world-renowned chefs (all 3 Michelin stars and more), each creating and preparing a one-off 1920s inspired masterpiece. We’ll have a 1920s concert onboard the yacht, vintage champagne, 1920s spirits and countless other things. If luxury is 5 stars, we’re talking 10 stars here...atleast. But the goal isn’t to have a ‘luxury trip.’ It’s to live the most incredible murder mystery adventure ever imagined.”

A Curious Mind, an Artist’s Heart

Possessing a deep-seated curiosity since he was a little boy, Araújo’s imagination knows no bounds. And it is this very aspect of his personality, unbridled and free-flowing, that he brings to Ariodante’s mission.

Perhaps it is this very unrestricted passion that allows Araújo to always look at the world with a sense of awe and the deep-seated belief that beauty and meaning can be discovered at every turn, in every corner of the vast, good earth.

“I’m curious about everything and want to explore it all. Everything intrigues me because I’m still a 5-year-old in my mind. I allow my clients to dream and create something that goes beyond their wildest dreams.”

Photos supplied by: Ariodante

‍